Three settlements once located on the Humber Valley Heritage Trail now exist in memories only. Flood, fire and changing economic circumstances caused them to pass into history. Their stories began in 1818, when James Chewett was commissioned to survey Albion Township, soon after treaties were signed between the Mississauga First Nation and the Crown. His Concession Line and Side Road survey created 200 acre sections of land that facilitated the sale of lots, which began in 1820. These ghost towns are Nunnville, Glasgow and Humber Grove and their stories are part of our rich Humber River Heritage.

This early map of Albion Township, produced by George Tremaine in 1859, clearly identifies the owner of each 100 acre lot, which was the standard Crown grant to the original settlers.

A Guide to Lots and Concessions

Immigrants arriving in Albion must have anticipated a daunting challenge to locate their homesteads in the rugged wilderness. However the systematic grid applied by the Crown Surveyors in Lower Canada facilitated their land claim. It organized the land into 200 acre blocks, divisible into 100 acre lots, each with frontage on a Concession Road, or at the very least, a survey line hacked through the bush.